Soar
by Lemon Lyle
Summary: Chihiro smiled. "Kohaku," she whispered, her eyes brimming with suppressed tears. "I'm back."


**Soar**

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Preface / Chapter One

Her neat, silky brown hair blew back from her face as the wind rose slightly, as if welcoming her back from her long departure. She couldn't suppress a smile at the thought. She wiggled her toes in her shoes and curled her fingers in her pockets.

_It's been four years. A lot has changed since then..._

Indeed; it had been four long years since Chihiro had gone into the Spirit World. four painful, horrible years.

As she stood, quietly, surveying her surroundings in the archway of a chipped, red-painted building in the middle of the forest, she noticed a group of wild flowers to her right, and a single sakura plant to her left. It appeared freshly planted. _That would explain why it hasn't blossomed yet, _Chihiro mused, kneeling down to gently finger the closed bud. _Sakura... If I ever have a daughter, that's what I'll name her—after my favorite flower._ Having a child... Would she ever be able to do that? It was only a fleeting thought, and it left as quickly as it came to her. Chihiro sat back up and swallowed, her hands suddenly clammy as she faced the entrance yet again. She wasn't getting anywhere, trying to buy time like this.

It had been an awfully big and unwelcome change for her when she had been twelve, to move to this city, but it no longer held any power over her—she relished the thought of being free from its grasp. Her father, after taking a supposed "short cut" while trying to find their new house, had ended up in front of the same building Chihiro was now gazing fondly at (which seemed untouched by the years that passed). She remembered it like it was only yesterday, how her father had told her mother and her both it was an abandoned theme park, that shut down for a reason unknown to them.

The rest was history. They entered the Spirit World but got separated after her parents ate the food-successfully turning themselves into pigs.

When Chihiro was in the Spirit World, she had made many friends. Just the thought of them made her heartache and her stomach lurch—she took a step forward. And another.

One of her friends was a young, gorgeous boy (around the age of thirteen or fourteen at the time, if she had to guess), named Kohaku. Kohaku River.

There was no denying it; she had fallen in love with him from her short stay in the world he lived in. Say all you want about her being a silly, stupid girl—a twelve year old doesn't know what love is—but you're wrong. She did know. She _does _know. And now, she still felt that way about him. Four years apart and the thought of him still made her heart race and her face flush a brilliant scarlet.

Chihiro had tried to forget about Haku time and time again and live a normal teenage life, but in the end... She knew she didn't want anyone but him. After all, he had promised her when she left, that they would see each other again. She tried all of those four years to desperately get back into the Spirit World to see Haku, but when she went through the opening... Nothing had ever happened, or someone would find her and take her away before she got to wrap her arms around her beloved river spirit.

Chihiro tugged at the hem of her loose-fitting white tank top, random memories of her mother and father clouding her thoughts. Something wet slipped down her cheeks.

Her parents had died only five months ago; Chihiro's wounds were still raw. It had happened so quick, so fast...

It had taken place in their car, three days before her birthday. They had promised to take her to an amusement park as an early present. Daddy had been speeding to beat the storm, so determined to give his only daughter the best birthday ever, because it was her only wish. But in the end, they hadn't made it in time, and the storm was a fierce one. Their car hydroplaned and they crashed head on into another car in the opposite lane. The doctor said it had been instant, so they didn't suffer.

Only now did she wipe her face, realizing the wet things were tears.

People took her to a foster home immediately after the hospital released her (she suffered a minor concussion), only allowing her to get her personal belongings from her home, nothing more, nothing less. She hadn't returned since.

Why wasn't she wrapped in a nice blanket, sitting on a couch, watching TV at her new adopted parents house or a relative's? Because she was already sixteen, and nobody wanted a "rebellious teenager" such as herself. The only living relative of Chihiro was her mother's sister, Aunt Moriko, who blatantly refused to take her in because of a scuttle Chihiro's mother and her Aunt Moriko had fifteen years ago.

The only happy memory of that damned orphanage was Kai, an outgoing girl, the only one able to make her smile. Alas, happiness alluded her, and Kai was adopted into a wealthy family with three sons. Kai continued to write letters to Chihiro after she left, telling her everything about her new family, and Chihiro was glad Kai got out of this living Hell without any permanent scars.

Only three days after Kai left, Chihiro gathered her courage, along her things, and ran away in the middle of the night.

And here she stood; face calm, her tears gone and her eyes hard with determination. She took a deep breath through her nose. She took another step.

Her hands began to shake while holding fast to the straps of her backpack. Making better use of her trembling appendages, she reached into her shorts pocket and pulled out a pink, glittering hair band. The exact same one her friends had woven for her while she sat, fearing Kohaku injured beyond any slight hope of return. The memory was still painful.

Chihiro swiftly pulled her hair into a pony-tail high on her head, tying it with the hair band they made her. It was her good luck charm—Kami knew she needed luck more than ever.

_If I don't make it through to the Spirit World,_ she gulped, her bottom lip quivering despite her teeth capturing it roughly, _I will not return ever again. I can't take any more of this agony._ Her heart swelled painfully in her chest, feeling like it had suddenly turned into lead and plummeted down to her stomach, leaving her chest empty and gaping. Tears threatened to leak from her eyes, but she couldn't cry now. No. She _wouldn't _cry now. She was strong. _I am strong._

Taking a deep breath, Chihiro took the first steps into the tunnel. She hesitated for a mere second before she set a quick pace, memories flashing in her mind's eye as it did every time she came back here. It was the same haunting images over and over again—her roses wilting in her hands, blackening; her parents walking ahead of her into the darkness while she desperately tried to keep up with them, calling out pitifully; long, ghostly hands clasped in hers and pulling, tugging, her along after. She cringed.

The building hadn't changed in the five months she wasn't running through the corridors, trying feverishly to reach her desired destination. It felt like a life-time before Chihiro finally appeared in the chapel section of the building, her brow creased in sweat and her knuckles on her right hand white from gripping the strap of her backpack tightly. _White hands against hers, always pulling, always tugging, leading her somewhere dark, where she couldn't use her eyes. She was at the mercy of the owner of the hands now snaking it's way up to her elbow, squeezing hard, painfully hard_—Every muscle in Chihiro's body was tensed and, like the frightened animal she was, she fled, trying to find her sweet escape.

Daylight washed in over the concrete, showering the exit in what seemed to be an endless golden field. Chihiro stopped with her tennis shoes dangerously close to where the suffocating darkness stopped and the heavenly light began, her whole body begging her to leap forward, to break away from the cold threatening to strangle her, to be released, to feel, and taste what was _freedom;_ despite herself, she still lingered in the shadows.

Her heart pounded in her ears.

_What if I can't do it? What if I've been... Abandoned?_

Chihiro closed her stinging eyes, disregarding the voice in her head that told her she was being foolish, throwing herself out there like this; that she was as dumb and naive as she was when she had first entered the Spirit World. _Don't do this, stop while you're ahead, go back_—

She clenched her jaw and screwed her eyes shut. Without thinking, as fast as she could, she charged through the arch, ready to be disappointed when she reopened her eyes.

And so she did, and what she saw left her utterly breathless.

Lush, green grass and wild flowers were spread around her for miles, instead of the dry, dead grass she had become accustomed to seeing and acknowledging as failure. The soft breeze that rustled through her hair and pressed against her cheeks made her positively giddy; the aroma, oh Lord, the aroma itself was just heavenly, the crisp morning air mixed with lavender was so intoxicating she felt intoxicated. Everything was just how she left it! They hadn't abandoned her! They hadn't!

With new found energy, Chihiro burst up the hill as fast as her legs could carry her. She it easily, sprinting across the slippery rocks that were jutting out of the small stream like she had been doing it her whole life, and shooting up the steps two-by-two, latching onto the red pillar waiting at the top.

"I'm actually here," she gasped, trying to catch her breath as her chest heaved with her roaring heartbeat.

The town, oh Lord, the town was spread out before her, in all it's glory, all the shops aligned exactly as she remembered. Even from this great distance, she could smell the food of the spirits, making her mouth water. Her hands slipped from the pillar and placed themselves on her hips as if they had minds of their own.

Chihiro smiled. "Kohaku," she whispered, her eyes brimming with suppressed tears. "I'm back."

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Disclaimer: I do not in any take credit for Spirited Away. All rights goes to Hayao Miyazaki.

A/N: Edited again, my lovelies. Gosh, I'm a terrible procrastinator-I love writing, but holy-jeebus, I can't do it consistently without some sort of deadline. I'm gonna start disciplining myself more and MAKE myself deadlines-to give you guys something to read and really crack down on myself.


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